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Talk:Mad Max: Movies of Apocalyptic Mayhem/@comment-92.251.131.87-20150512231415
Looks to be an interesting book overall. Did not hear of it until this moment and have to get it. It would be most interesting to read some background between the films and see how society crumbled. It is very clear that films 2, 3 and 4 are post apocalyptic. While these 3 are probably the most entertaining actionwise, the first film I find fascinating partly because we are not told 100% what exactly is wrong. The opening scenes, apart from being told 'a few years from now', could come out of any contemporary cop film or series of the time. Tough cops dealing with drug crazed violent criminals. The Australian Dirty Harry? After the violent chase, we see Mad with his wife and son and TV on, he after a bath and she playing saxophone. Again, not too different to a standard cop film. The next parts show us definitely a society where crime is out of control. A lot of violence and bully boy tactics where biker gangs can take over towns and rape and pillage and even threaten a railway official without being reprimanded further show us how crime is gone out of control. This is clearly the first hint that crime actually poses a real threat and the society, even train stations, cannot deal with it. People generally dress as we do. We see roadside diners and singers in fancy looking pubs. But the second hint that this is not quite Dirty Harry in Melbourne comes when we see the poor state of the police headquarters. Even though the prisoner/court scenarios are similar to normal society, the fact that no one showed up at the court is very strange. The next part with Goose getting killed, Max getting disillusioned and he and Jessie taking a holiday in a lonely peaceful place brings us back to a very normal world with a society not any different to what we know. But once again the bikers come on the scene and ultimately kill Jessie. Again, the fact that they control a small village by the sea shows all is not well. If there was a functioning government with resources, these would not happen. We see bikers robbing fuel which hints at fuel shortages. Max ultimately gets his revenge by shooting, crashing into, and blowing up his various enemies and then drives into the wasteland. Cop boss Fifi would approve: 'as long as the paperwork's clean, you boys can do what you like out there'!! This implies that there is still some government. So, what exactly is the first Mad Max? On one hand, it is a straightforward cop film but on the other hand, it is set somewhere between normal society and an impending disaster that is being played out while the events of the film are taking place. This is where this book would come in very useful. Australia would be a country like today's Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan with a government in power but not in control it would seem? Films 2, 3 and 4 went completely for a total apocalypse though films 2 and 3 hinted at better places in Australia than the wasteland.